2021 Due Diligence in Business Transactions

Due diligence, often guided by lawyers, is essential to the success of major business transactions and poorly planned or conducted diligence can contribute to a buyer not getting the benefit of its bargain. Diligence helps confirm essential assumptions about the value of a transaction and aids the discovery of unknown liabilities. There’s also a subtle relationship between the content of diligence and the time allowed to conduct it. In more robust market environments, sellers have the upper hand and can limit diligence, making the process about time allocation and risk management. This program will provide you with a practical guide to planning the diligence process, understanding the most important areas of inquiry depending on the type of transaction, and review checklists.

• What to diligence, utilizing experts, and managing the process and time
• Impact of market environment on the length and scope of diligence
• Checklists – what information do you need to get, from whom, and on what timeline?
• Hard assets v. soft assets – how to diligence the validity and title to each
• Contracts with suppliers and customers – ensuring stability and visibility of revenue
• Financial records and statements – what should attorneys look for?

Note: This material qualifies for self-study credit only. Pursuant to Regulation 15.04.5, a lawyer may receive up to six hours of self-study credit in a reporting year. Self-study programs do not qualify for GAL Certification, ethics, elimination of bias or Kansas credit.